Dementia Advocacy: Is It Broken?

It’s great to see new dementia advocates inspired and empowered to start speaking up for change. What’s disturbing though, is that after more than four decades of it, ‘we’ are asking for exactly the same things as the pioneer dementia advocates including Christine Bryden and James McKillop (who were both diagnosed in the last century),…

Dementia Awareness: A Waste of Time?

My inner rage, sometimes quiet, sometimes more obvious and loud – against the persistent status quo, particularly in the field of dementia ‘care’ is not meant to be personal, not to any individual, or to any organisation. I am well aware and often say in presentations that almost everyone I know goes to work (paid…

What went wrong?

What went wrong? Uncovering the Crisis at the International Disability Alliance The following is an introduction to an important blog by Peter Torres Fremlin, a report which uncovers the crisis at the International Disability Alliance (IDA). Peter looks into what went wrong at the International disability Alliance – not only to inform us, but to…

A love affair, or a hate affair?

Assisted technology (AT), Artifical Intelligence (AI) and Digital Technology (DT), have meant there is an increasing ‘digitisation’ of our world. It is sometimes confronting, it is often helpful, and there are many positives and negatives. I hear people telling me the love AT, and many also tell me they hate it! Many also describe it…

The big elephant in the room

Over the years, I’ve presented at events themed, ‘the elephants in the room’, and even wrote a chapter in a book published last year on this theme. It is titled, About Us Without All of Us: The Elephants in the Room. Todays blog is about a very big elephant in the room, which he goes…

Latest Research Article

“Necessity of Reparations for People with Dementia in Long Term Care: Empirical Perspectives” By Linda Steele and Kate Swaffer Abstract People living with dementia (‘PLWD’) have experienced significant human rights violations in long term care (‘LTC’) institutions, including institutionalisation, segregation, detention, violence, and neglect. Wide ranging and ongoing impacts of these violations on PLWD have…

Review: “About Us Without All Of Us: The Elephants in the Room”

Chapter Review by Elizabeth Deane McCarthy, Student of Ageing and Public Policy, 2024 “Coming from a background of Mental Health Nursing (Training completed during the COVID pandemic) with a special interest in Dementia, I picked up Ageing of the Oppressed and couldn’t put it down. Kate Swaffer’s chapter ‘About Us Without All Of Us: The…

Sorry…

Deeply ashamed of Australians. Deeply ashamed to be an Australian. No words will ever express the sadness and devastaion I feel for our First Nations Peoples. Almost speechless due to the unbelievable racism, the total lies peddled by so many ‘people’, and the deafening ignorance of the majority… 😦 😦 😦 😦 😦

It’s time to unlock the doors

Two webinars on deinstitutionalisation: “Ordinary lives” Todays post is to highlight two important webinars being hosted by the European Network on Independent Living, coming up soon. The United Nations Deinstitutionalisation Guidelines released in 2022 refer to all people with disabilties, which therefore includes people living with dementia. People with dementia are not only locked inside…

Did Maslow get it Wrong?

Recently I read an interesting article titled, “Maslow got it wrong”. Many of us were taught Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs was both a model for self actualisation and creating strong, healthy communities. But this was recently challenged this Eurocentric paradigm and that it would be a different hierarchy if he was a poor Black man…